Today I took a break from following the 1839 trail of John and Henry Thoreau and trash patrolled the Sudbury River a little closer to home. After launching at Little Farms Road in Framingham, I headed upriver by passing through the small riffle just downstream from the inlet of the now bypassed mile-long oxbow...
Between here and Danforth Street, I encountered a stoic bluen heron and a very vocal red-tailed hawk. Trash in this stretch was mostly plastic bottles. There is shopping cart about a quarter-mile below the bridge and a sofa now rests beneath the newer of the two bridges. After turning around the trip downriver was a swift one till the Stone Bridge where floatable trash was plentiful, as usual. By the time I reached the point where the river makes a hard right turn, my trash count was more than 60 pieces. From there to the power lines there was little trash.
These cardinal flowers were the fullest I've seen...
They were located across the river from these pink flowers, perhaps hibiscus...
After passing under the overhead power lines, I continued downriver a little ways past the sign for the Allen H. Morgan Avian Study Area. At this point, quite a breeze began to kick up and with thunderstorms mentioned in the forecast, it seemed wise to head back upriver to Little Farms Road. A belted kingfisher decided to provide me an escort all the way back. He would fly ahead then wait for me to catch up, then repeat the cycle over and over again.
Arriving back at the takeout, my trash count for the day was 70 pieces. Of these 51 were recyclable (12 redeemable) and 19 were misc. rubbish such as styrofoam, plastic bags, etc. You'd think they would look a little happier to be back on dry land...
This brings my YTD total to 3475.
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